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Chapter 690 Don't Be Afraid!!
Ginny hugged him tightly.
Her voice was soft, trembling.
"Don't be afraid. No one died.
What he stepped on wasn't a corpse—Bill wasn't dead. He was hit by a spell, but he's alive… he's still alive.
Do you want to come with me to see him?"
Darren looked at her blankly, as if stunned.
Ginny's eyes were red.
She pulled him up with both hands.
Darren stood with her support—
Then suddenly vomited blood again.
"Darren!"
Harry cried out in agony.
Darren smiled faintly and looked back at him.
"It's okay, brother… I might just be a little sleepy.
I want to sleep for a while…
Just for a little while."
His voice grew softer and softer.
Then he collapsed into Ginny's arms.
And just like that, the responsibility of explaining everything was mercilessly dumped onto Harry.
---
Harry stood in the hospital wing.
Almost everyone was there.
Almost everyone was waiting for him to explain what had happened tonight.
"It was Snape," Harry said hoarsely.
"Snape killed Dumbledore."
"Tonight, Dumbledore took Darren and me on a mission…
Dumbledore was already weak. Darren had exhausted his magic and was poisoned.
The Dark Mark appeared… we returned to the school.
Dumbledore immobilized us. Malfoy rushed in and disarmed him…
Darren kept struggling. Then Snape arrived…"
Harry's throat tightened.
"He killed Dumbledore."
He forced himself to continue.
"Darren and I ran into Dementors.
To save me, Darren forced himself to break through and awakened his will…
We went after Snape.
Snape said he had added something to Darren's potions over the years…
Darren grabbed him by the throat and told me to capture him…
I didn't do it.
After that… Hagrid arrived."
Harry finished, voice broken.
Madam Pomfrey burst into tears.
She whispered, "Listen…"
A phoenix's song rang out.
Harry felt as if he had been pulled back from the ashes.
He remembered the time Darren had been saved before.
He looked up instinctively, full of hope.
But the phoenix's song gradually faded.
Fawkes was gone.
Yet the song carried away much of their grief.
It left them calmer, steadier.
Harry thought Darren should be hearing it too.
After all—
Darren was still alive.
At least… he had to be.
---
The hospital wing door opened.
Professor McGonagall entered.
Her eyes were red.
She wiped her face and asked softly,
"Harry, I heard you and Darren were there. I need to know exactly what happened."
Harry repeated everything again.
Sirius covered his face.
"I've always believed Snape couldn't be trusted. Dumbledore just wouldn't believe it."
"That day," Mrs. Weasley said bitterly,
"Dumbledore swore to us. He said he trusted Snape… but…"
"I still don't understand," she continued, voice shaking.
"What reason did Dumbledore have to believe him?"
Hagrid wiped his eyes.
At that moment, Harry's suppressed anger finally erupted—
Anger born from Darren's near death, from Dumbledore's fall.
"He heard Professor Trelawney's prophecy about me!" Harry shouted.
"And he told Voldemort!
After that, he went back to Dumbledore and said he regretted it and wanted to make amends on both sides!"
"He believed that?!" Lupin and Sirius exclaimed together.
"Snape always hated James!"
"Yes!" Harry shouted.
"Dumbledore always believed him!
I told him again and again that Snape was plotting something with Malfoy—he didn't believe it!
Snape has always been vicious. He secretly added things to Darren's medicine!
And late at night, he went to Darren's dormitory with a knife—I saw it!"
No one asked how Harry knew.
They only looked stricken.
---
At that moment, Fleur rushed in.
She came with Mr. Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley frowned.
But Mr. Weasley only shrugged.
"She said that at a time like this, she had to be by Darren's side."
"That still—" Mrs. Weasley muttered.
But Fleur didn't care.
She walked straight to Darren's bed.
She looked at the wounds still healing on his body, at the pallor of his face.
Tears welled in her eyes.
She lifted her hand to touch his face—
But didn't dare.
As if she feared that even the slightest pressure would make him disappear.
Suddenly, Fleur turned and hugged Hermione.
Hermione froze—then hugged her back.
They cried together.
Harry looked away.
He felt that the bond between girls formed frighteningly fast.
---
Then Harry noticed something.
The Slytherin locket in Darren's pocket was slipping out.
He suddenly remembered—
Back in the cave, Darren's face had gone pale when he saw it.
Harry glanced around.
Everyone was still grieving.
No one was paying attention to him.
So Harry quietly took the locket.
He had no intention of telling anyone about the Horcruxes.
Not Lupin.
Not Sirius.
Only Ron, Hermione… and Darren.
Didn't Dumbledore die because he trusted Snape?
When Voldemort was dead, Harry would make things right.
With that thought, Harry looked at the locket—
And froze.
This was clearly fake.
It was smaller than the one in the basin.
There was no engraved "S".
And inside was a folded piece of parchment.
It had already been opened—
It must have been Darren.
Harry unfolded it again.
---
To the Dark Lord:
By the time you read this, I will have long been dead.
But I want you to know that I know your secret.
I have stolen your Horcrux and replaced it with this.
I intend to destroy it as soon as possible.
I hope you meet your end when you face a true enemy.
—R.A.B.
---
Harry suddenly understood Darren's fear back then.
Dumbledore had drunk that potion for nothing.
Darren was too kind.
Of course he hadn't had the heart to tell Dumbledore the truth at that moment.
Thinking of Dumbledore's death.
Thinking of Darren nearly dying.
Thinking of everything that had happened tonight—
Harry crushed the parchment in his hand.
Tears blurred his vision completely.